[SPEAKER_00]: Dan is in zone tonight.
[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to another episode of the Macabre, the terrifying.
[SPEAKER_00]: Tonight, we'll hear part one of a delicious two-part Halloween story, brought to us by A.G. Hilton.
[SPEAKER_00]: Our scene opens on Halloween afternoon, as a working girl, Morgan, is hurrying away from her employer, Conrad.
[SPEAKER_00]: As it turns out, some product has gone missing, and he believes she is the culprit.
[SPEAKER_00]: But the seller is the Inigmatic Ma-Hoyt, who took up residence in the Curse at Walker House
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, as Conrad, Morgan and their muscle west drive toward the old Walker house to set things right on Halloween night, the shadows seem to have a life of their own, and old secrets begin to claw their way up into the waning daylight.
[SPEAKER_00]: This story is called Witch House, and was written by A.G. Hilltown.
[SPEAKER_00]: Part 1.
[SPEAKER_00]: Tricks An autumn wind whipped, pulling with it rasping leaves and discarded trash that scraped across the parking lot of the decayed motel.
[SPEAKER_00]: Morgan swept along with the detritus head down as she made for her room.
[SPEAKER_00]: A part of her, small and beaten deep down over time, despised thinking of the space in those terms.
[SPEAKER_00]: A cell is what it was.
[SPEAKER_00]: What it had been for longer than she would care to remember.
[SPEAKER_00]: But right now, all she wanted was to lie down in the bed and see if there was still whiskey in the bottle she had secreted away.
[SPEAKER_00]: She hurt all over.
[SPEAKER_00]: Peter had caught her earlier, high out of his mind, and he'd been less than gentle.
[SPEAKER_00]: She despised the bastard and his brother.
[SPEAKER_00]: Upon a time, she had day dreamed endlessly about the myriad ways the two might be undone.
[SPEAKER_00]: But the years abuse said ground the sharp points of the fantasy, much like everything else, into blunted instruments.
[SPEAKER_00]: They were no good anymore, and the resignation to her position crept upon her over unnumbered days with a slow determination of creeping cudzu.
[SPEAKER_00]: In time, it had enrapt her so thoroughly that when the chance to be head girl came, she took it, and barely thought of how this new compliance only deepened the pit she was in.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hey baby, wait up!
[SPEAKER_00]: She knew the voice.
[SPEAKER_00]: Peter's brother, the king bastard, conrad.
[SPEAKER_00]: She didn't want to stop, but her feet faltered treacherously at the calm.
[SPEAKER_00]: Do not look, do not acknowledge, just get inside and hope he loses interest.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, I said slow down!
[SPEAKER_00]: 20 more feet to the door.
[SPEAKER_00]: 15.
[SPEAKER_00]: 10.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, bitch!
[SPEAKER_00]: A vice-grip seized on her arm and spun her around.
[SPEAKER_00]: Conrad White stared with knitted brow.
[SPEAKER_00]: A solidly built bald man with a brown beard, he was the contrast to his lean junkie of a brother, and she'd always assumed the more dangerous.
[SPEAKER_00]: You'd never something?
[SPEAKER_00]: I said, wait up.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sorry.
[SPEAKER_00]: She fought the old urge to lower her gaze,
[SPEAKER_00]: I must have been in my own world, didn't hear with all the wind, but you've got my intention now, shook?
[SPEAKER_00]: She rubbed a hand on the man's chest.
[SPEAKER_00]: An agitated conrad was generally bad news, but she'd learned how to redirect him over time.
[SPEAKER_00]: He brushed her hand away.
[SPEAKER_00]: Were you been, anyway?
[SPEAKER_00]: The words ask your brother jumped to her lips, but died just as quickly.
[SPEAKER_00]: As far as Conrad was concerned, the sun shined out as little brother's ass.
[SPEAKER_00]: Checkin' on things, girls, you know.
[SPEAKER_00]: She said aloud.
[SPEAKER_00]: Uh-huh.
[SPEAKER_00]: Won't you give me that little purse for a minute?
[SPEAKER_00]: Morgan looked at the little handbag she carried around.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was a garrish thing, bright pink, and had seen better days.
[SPEAKER_00]: It wasn't much, but it was hers.
[SPEAKER_00]: She didn't know what Conrad wanted with it, but the thought of it being taken suddenly made her feel like that little girl she'd been once upon a time before things had taken their turn.
[SPEAKER_00]: So she drew back and kept up the playful tone.
[SPEAKER_00]: What do you need a purse for?
[SPEAKER_00]: Trick or treat?
[SPEAKER_00]: Conrad snatched it away, and turned his back to her.
[SPEAKER_00]: Immediately, lib stick, a pack of gum, and all manner of odd bits fell to the concrete.
[SPEAKER_00]: He crouched amid the pile, sifting through the items.
[SPEAKER_00]: Morgan started forward intending to collect the fallen things.
[SPEAKER_00]: Would you have to do that for?
[SPEAKER_00]: Conrad warned her off with a threatening hand.
[SPEAKER_00]: Don't you mess with none of this.
[SPEAKER_00]: What are you looking for?
[SPEAKER_00]: Who knows, I'll know what if I see it, now shut up!
[SPEAKER_00]: Morgan didn't like this one bit.
[SPEAKER_00]: Conrad had the same look when he found out a girl palm the wallet off a John, not realizing he was both a regular and a deputy in town who tended to look the other way.
[SPEAKER_00]: She still remembered the cries and the sounds of blows against flesh that pierced through the thin motel walls.
[SPEAKER_00]: Suddenly, Conrad stopped his searching, and his hand darted out to grab a small baggy amid the clutter.
[SPEAKER_00]: The afternoon, autumn light filtered through the plastic, showing a collection of brown powder and odd bits that could have been stems, Morgan could only stare in confusion.
[SPEAKER_00]: Conrad rose to face her.
[SPEAKER_00]: Damn it, Morgan!
[SPEAKER_00]: Now wait a minute, what is this?
[SPEAKER_00]: What is that?
[SPEAKER_00]: Come on, don't play me like that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Some new chick play and dumb is one thing, but you... Conrad, after all we've been through, you want to screw me like this?
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't even know what that is!
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, hell you don't!
[SPEAKER_00]: How do you have it then?
[SPEAKER_00]: He held the bag so close, Morgan had to look down her nose at it.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is new, something premium, from a very, very special supplier, a supplier whose product has disappeared before we get it to the streets.
[SPEAKER_00]: Pete's sure it'll be the next big thing, and we need this plug, and here you are taking the stuff before we can turn it around.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know what to tell you, it ain't mine.
[SPEAKER_00]: Conrad's hand snapped forward like a Viper, pinning her by the throat against the brick
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you know how much shit we've been in since the cops busted Snyder's lab?
[SPEAKER_00]: We're short on cash, and I got people asking after money.
[SPEAKER_00]: Pete was sure this will give us the boost we need.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was free goddamn money.
[SPEAKER_00]: They gave us the first batch free.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now we got a meeting with a big wig, and they're expecting us to buy more with the fucking money this was supposed to turn over.
[SPEAKER_00]: So who else is in on it, huh?
[SPEAKER_00]: You got the other bitches nabbing some here and there?
[SPEAKER_00]: Just can't believe it.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know I trusted you but Pete was right.
[SPEAKER_00]: Peter, she croaked.
[SPEAKER_00]: Did Peter say something?
[SPEAKER_00]: Always said you were no good, but you got me thinking with the wrong head.
[SPEAKER_00]: Peter's a goddamn junkie conrad.
[SPEAKER_00]: How do you know he's not the one skimming?
[SPEAKER_00]: You know I just saw him before you showed up.
[SPEAKER_00]: High as a kite.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe he but
[SPEAKER_00]: Conrad slapped her hard enough to send her to the ground.
[SPEAKER_00]: She braised for more, but instead went cold as she heard a metallic click.
[SPEAKER_00]: She knew if she looked up, she'd be looking down the barrel of the flashy Pearl-handled revolver that Conrad wore like you were some gutter trash John Wayne.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now there was nothing except to await a final deafening boom.
[SPEAKER_00]: But none came.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not another word from you about my brother," he said.
[SPEAKER_00]: In fact, not another word from you at all.
[SPEAKER_00]: We got ourselves a little trip to make to set things right.
[SPEAKER_00]: Peter, get up!
[SPEAKER_00]: Conrad gave his brother a slap on the shoulder, and watched him slowly uncurl upon the ratty couch.
[SPEAKER_00]: Having left Morgan in the hands of his muscle, Wes, he had gone looking for his brother, only to find him near Catatonic, in the dingy back office of the motel, which served as their headquarters.
[SPEAKER_00]: Peter set up, red-eyed and fly undone.
[SPEAKER_00]: The sight had become more and more common of late, and the bitch's words, junkie, flitted through his mind, he forced them away.
[SPEAKER_00]: You don't look so good, he said.
[SPEAKER_00]: Be straight, you take something, Pete?
[SPEAKER_00]: Just a little something, he slurred.
[SPEAKER_00]: Trying to sleep?
[SPEAKER_00]: You know I don't sleep good?
[SPEAKER_00]: As always, Conrad sent his mind back to the neglectful foster homes, and later to the cold night-sunder bridges and an abandoned husks.
[SPEAKER_00]: It wasn't Peter's fault.
[SPEAKER_00]: Those places had given his brother his small afflictions.
[SPEAKER_00]: Pete just didn't have the same metal.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's why he needed looking out for.
[SPEAKER_00]: I know.
[SPEAKER_00]: Conrad replied after a moment.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I need you, sharp.
[SPEAKER_00]: We got some trouble.
[SPEAKER_00]: Peter sat a little straighter.
[SPEAKER_00]: Drumroll?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: Remember how I told you some of that new product was going missing?
[SPEAKER_00]: Find out who it was?
[SPEAKER_00]: Fucking morgan.
[SPEAKER_00]: Found some honor.
[SPEAKER_00]: Peter sank back into the couch.
[SPEAKER_00]: Bro, I told you, she's tricky.
[SPEAKER_00]: Told you, you can't trust her.
[SPEAKER_00]: I know.
[SPEAKER_00]: Look, now we're in some hot water.
[SPEAKER_00]: We got that meeting with the new supplier tonight, and we don't have the cash we need.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I got to try to smooth it over.
[SPEAKER_00]: You got to hold the fork down while I'm out.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know how people get on Halloween, expecting some freaky Johns.
[SPEAKER_00]: No problem, said Peter.
[SPEAKER_00]: He tried to stand, seemed to think better of it, and propped his feet on the scratched coffee table instead.
[SPEAKER_00]: I got it all under control.
[SPEAKER_00]: Conrad's stifled and exasperated sigh.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know what?
[SPEAKER_00]: Just lay low.
[SPEAKER_00]: Clayton and the others can look after things.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll send Clarissa or one of the other girls down to check in on you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Peter tried to take his feet again.
[SPEAKER_00]: No, don't worry.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm good for him, man.
[SPEAKER_00]: when he stumbled, Conrad caught him, and made him lay back down on the couch before throwing a ratty blanket over him.
[SPEAKER_00]: Each day it grew more difficult not to acknowledge that Peter's problems were getting out of hand.
[SPEAKER_00]: But whatever insinuations the bitch might have made, in that moment, all Conrad's saw now, was his kid brother being tucked in.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he wouldn't let anything happen to his kid brother.
[SPEAKER_00]: The old truck coughed, sputtered, seemed about to give up the ghosts before roaring to life.
[SPEAKER_00]: Morgan sat rigid between Wes and Conrad, as the former drove them toward the hills outside of town on Conrad's orders.
[SPEAKER_00]: They had not restrained her, and for that she was grateful, but Conrad had his garrish revolver resting on his knee and that was deterrent enough.
[SPEAKER_00]: They went on like that in silence.
[SPEAKER_00]: Morgan kept her eyes forward, noting the Halloween decorations, classic witches and ghosts swinging in the wind as they pass through a residential area at the town limits.
[SPEAKER_00]: The sun waned in the sky, and already kids began to gather for trick or treating.
[SPEAKER_00]: She wished she could borrow some of their carefree happiness, but soon these sites gave way to thicker trees and fewer houses as they pushed toward the town's borders.
[SPEAKER_00]: What are you gonna do to me?
[SPEAKER_00]: She finally asked.
[SPEAKER_00]: Conrad kept his eyes ahead.
[SPEAKER_00]: Me?
[SPEAKER_00]: I ain't gonna do nothing.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not up to me.
[SPEAKER_00]: What do you mean?
[SPEAKER_00]: I told you.
[SPEAKER_00]: That stuff you've been swiping is something special and comes from a special source.
[SPEAKER_00]: One, I don't wanna piss off when we come up short.
[SPEAKER_00]: So now, I gotta try to make a peace offering.
[SPEAKER_00]: Shield aside, what becomes you?
[SPEAKER_00]: They call her ma-hoite, a bead of silence passed among them.
[SPEAKER_00]: The implacable West seemed to sit up a little straighter.
[SPEAKER_00]: She's a weird bird to hear tell of it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Conrad went on.
[SPEAKER_00]: Reganidol mean nothing to you, seeing how you ain't from around these parts.
[SPEAKER_00]: I wouldn't have known the name either, but people around here tell stories about her.
[SPEAKER_00]: Wild shit, if you listen to it, they say she's some kind of hill witch, lives up in this old place just outside the county line, but it's just a bunch of talk.
[SPEAKER_00]: Turns out whoever lives up there just petals some psychedelic hippie shit.
[SPEAKER_00]: You never said that was the supplier.
[SPEAKER_00]: West put in.
[SPEAKER_00]: Uncomfortable.
[SPEAKER_00]: Morgan noted attention settling into the large man.
[SPEAKER_00]: You say you've actually met her?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, no, I mean, not directly.
[SPEAKER_00]: Word is she don't ever come down from the hills.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I managed to get a meeting with someone who works with her.
[SPEAKER_00]: West seemed to relax a little.
[SPEAKER_00]: OK, so we're going to meet this contact.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not this time, this time we're going straight to the top, got to make things right.
[SPEAKER_00]: Morgan felt the truck slow to his stop as Wes applied the brakes.
[SPEAKER_00]: You say we're about to roll up at the old Walker house?
[SPEAKER_00]: Wes asked.
[SPEAKER_00]: We can't do that, man.
[SPEAKER_00]: Are you shitting me right now?
[SPEAKER_00]: What's gotten into you?
[SPEAKER_00]: Wait.
[SPEAKER_00]: Conrad started to laugh.
[SPEAKER_00]: Wait a second.
[SPEAKER_00]: Don't tell me big, bad, Wes is scared of some kids stories.
[SPEAKER_00]: Wes's lips pressed to a thin line, and he shook his head.
[SPEAKER_00]: He pointed to Morgan.
[SPEAKER_00]: Look, you want to talk about her not being from around here.
[SPEAKER_00]: You and your brother didn't grow up here neither.
[SPEAKER_00]: You don't know.
[SPEAKER_00]: It ain't just kids stories, at least not all of it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now I ain't saying I believe there's some witch livin' up there, but then woods are no good.
[SPEAKER_00]: Tons of people gone missing up there.
[SPEAKER_00]: Kids, a lot of them, hell, I've even told you about my brother who went missing when we were younger.
[SPEAKER_00]: He used to wanna go poking around up there, too.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a bad place.
[SPEAKER_00]: If that's where we're headed, I want out.
[SPEAKER_00]: Any humor left, Conrad's face.
[SPEAKER_00]: I ain't believing this.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're telling me, you won't blink twice if I tell you to mash a guy's head in when he owes us.
[SPEAKER_00]: But you won't drive to a meeting?
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm just saying... Click.
[SPEAKER_00]: Conrad thumbed back the revolvers hammer casually.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm just saying...
[SPEAKER_00]: Put this rig back in drive and go where I tell you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Do I need to spell out how fucking important this is?
[SPEAKER_00]: Morgan's breath caught in her throat.
[SPEAKER_00]: She kept her eyes fixed ahead, afraid that even looking in the direction of the gun might set it off.
[SPEAKER_00]: Wes sat for a moment, glanced toward Conrad, then back toward the road.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're a real son of a bitch.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then they were back on track, the silence between them heavier than before, as a bloated moon peaked from the
[SPEAKER_00]: Take this next right.
[SPEAKER_00]: Wes did as he was told, and they found themselves on a narrow dirt path.
[SPEAKER_00]: By now, darkness had blanketed the land.
[SPEAKER_00]: On each side of the road, the looming trees took on the aspect of strange centenels watching their progress.
[SPEAKER_00]: Ground fog collected in hollow places off the road and reached into the path of the headlights, like the fingers of conjured spirits.
[SPEAKER_00]: Morgan wasn't one to be phased by ghost stories.
[SPEAKER_00]: She'd seen too much real horror to give such ideas credence, but coupled with the things which had been said earlier, the atmosphere had her watching for movement from the shadows.
[SPEAKER_00]: After a time, a rusted gate chained closed with a heavy padlock emerged from the darkness before them.
[SPEAKER_00]: Wes brought the truck to a stop before it and looked to
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, now what?
[SPEAKER_00]: Don't reckon you got a key?
[SPEAKER_00]: No, but we should be expected.
[SPEAKER_00]: Keep the engine running.
[SPEAKER_00]: With that he got out and walked ahead into the headlight beams.
[SPEAKER_00]: Did you mean that?
[SPEAKER_00]: Morgan asked when Conrad was out of earshot.
[SPEAKER_00]: Mean what?
[SPEAKER_00]: All that stuff about this being some kind of bad place about having a kid brother go missing up here?
[SPEAKER_00]: Why you care?
[SPEAKER_00]: You're the reason we're in this mess.
[SPEAKER_00]: Wes, I don't know what Conrad told you, but I swear, I don't know how that stuff got in my bag.
[SPEAKER_00]: Someone put it there.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know it don't matter, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: What doesn't?
[SPEAKER_00]: Whatever you have to say, Conrad told me what you told them that Peter could have put it in there.
[SPEAKER_00]: wrong answer.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not saying I don't believe you, but when dealing with those two?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, the truth don't always come into things.
[SPEAKER_00]: Morgan began to protest further, but the words died away as she looked to the extreme limit of the headlight beams.
[SPEAKER_00]: Someone was coming.
[SPEAKER_00]: The figure came straight toward Conrad from the other side of the gate, but as he came on, Morgan felt a crawling in her belly that told her she ought to get out and run back down the dirt path.
[SPEAKER_00]: But the pressing darkness beyond the truck's cab kept her in place.
[SPEAKER_00]: The figure gained clarity as it came.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was a man dressed in a dark hoodie and jeans, the hood drawn in around his face.
[SPEAKER_00]: His face showed pale as a fish belly in the gleam of headlights, and his eyes.
[SPEAKER_00]: His eyes could have been a fish as well, so blank and dull they stared into the high beams without a blink.
[SPEAKER_00]: Even Conrad seemed to give ground as the man came forward, and Morgan saw him rest a hand on the pistol at his side.
[SPEAKER_00]: Words were exchanged, and the strange man turned his dead eyes from Conrad to the truck and back.
[SPEAKER_00]: Every time that blank gaze drifted to the truck, Morgan fought an urge to cringe behind the dashboard.
[SPEAKER_00]: But finally, Conrad turned back as the man produced a key and opened the gate.
[SPEAKER_00]: This task complete, he faded back into the shadows as quickly as he had appeared.
[SPEAKER_00]: What's up with that guy?
[SPEAKER_00]: Asked Wes as Conrad climbed into the vehicle.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just drive, came the reply.
[SPEAKER_00]: As the truck trundled forward, Morgan sensed the man lurking off to their left.
[SPEAKER_00]: and she imagined that if she were to look to the side, he would be right there at the window watching with those empty, fish-like eyes.
[SPEAKER_00]: With discomfort, she realized that her fears over being turned over to a worse situation or killed and left to rot in a backwards ditch were softening and giving way to something more.
[SPEAKER_00]: between the weird gatekeeper and Wes's reluctance to go wherever they were headed, all sorts of odd ideas began struggling to the surface.
[SPEAKER_00]: More than likely, the thoughts were just a by-product of that original fear, a distraction from what was inevitable.
[SPEAKER_00]: And yet, as the trees gave way to a clearing and a house on a hill, they seemed more tangible than ever.
[SPEAKER_00]: West did not consider himself an imaginative man.
[SPEAKER_00]: Over the years, any sense of wonder or awe about the mysteries of life had been carefully sanded away by the cold, hard instruments of experience.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he had done his part to aid in this leveling.
[SPEAKER_00]: After all, it didn't pay to have your head in the clouds, or to leave room for dwelling
[SPEAKER_00]: He did not aspire to coldness, but simply a safe and detached outlook concerned only with the hard facts.
[SPEAKER_00]: How much product had been moved, how many bodies passed through the hotel, and how many rounds were in his piece at a given time?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yet tonight, it seemed there was one mental corner which had eluded his attempts at cleansing, and that corner of his mind set ablaze as he saw the walker house loom above them.
[SPEAKER_00]: A jagged profile born of high-peaked roofs and many jutting chimneys provided a spiny for bidding appearance.
[SPEAKER_00]: While the soft light glowing in the windows might have been luminous eyes peering down.
[SPEAKER_00]: The whole thing ought to have been kitsch, a parotic distillation of the quintessential spookhouse, all dressed up for Halloween night.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yet seeing it, brought Wes' mind back to whispered stories on street corners and school yards.
[SPEAKER_00]: And above everything, it brought to him a name he had for years kept at arms' length.
[SPEAKER_00]: Before tonight, West might have said that his brothers' disappearance when they were young was just one of those things, a spot of bad luck, a senseless act of cruelty.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yet ever since laying eyes on the walker house, his mind crowded with those childhood whispers.
[SPEAKER_00]: and there had been many strange whispers about this place.
[SPEAKER_00]: People said that way back around the time of the Second World War, long before the elusive Mahoyt had taken residence, the original owner and designer of the house, Robert Walker, had himself been arrested over a string of murders and disappearances.
[SPEAKER_00]: Story went that Walker had come into considerable money due to various profitable ventures, strangest among them investments in old toy and game sales.
[SPEAKER_00]: Supposedly, the place was built to fulfill the insane Walker's wild obsessions with death and play, and was filled with bodies in hidden places.
[SPEAKER_00]: After Walker was taken,
[SPEAKER_00]: The place had sat abandoned, and would likely have been destroyed after what was found there.
[SPEAKER_00]: However, it seemed the arrival of Mahhoyt had stopped things.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was all ridiculous, nothing more than childish embellishments, to round the edges of brutal realities.
[SPEAKER_00]: Stories encouraged by parents to keep children from wandering, as we're always told since time immemorial.
[SPEAKER_00]: And yet, here stood the house, not story, but stone, and brick, and wood, firm reality.
[SPEAKER_00]: and someone certainly still lived here.
[SPEAKER_00]: That was enough to make Wes want to wrench the steering wheel around and high-tail it back down the dirt road.
[SPEAKER_00]: Suddenly, he wasn't in the truck at all, but rather on his bike.
[SPEAKER_00]: Its front wheel crunched over fallen leaves as he weaved up to the
[SPEAKER_00]: He shouted at the figure, told it to stop, but it didn't heat him.
[SPEAKER_00]: He shouted through the gate again and again until his voice went horse and the sun grew weak.
[SPEAKER_00]: He waited an eternity for the figure to come back until the reaching shadows chased him toward town and its lights.
[SPEAKER_00]: Conrad's voice almost startled him.
[SPEAKER_00]: He looked to the house, back to Conrad and his gun, then let out a long breath.
[SPEAKER_00]: God damn it, he was acting like a kid.
[SPEAKER_00]: He eased onto the gas, and they began the climb toward the house.
[SPEAKER_00]: All the while he told himself, this was nothing but business, and the sooner it was over with, the better.
[SPEAKER_00]: As the truck came to a stop before the large house, Conrad found that he had to steal himself to exit the cab.
[SPEAKER_00]: It began to dawn on him that maybe he had misunderstood something about the particulars of this operation.
[SPEAKER_00]: When the man who called himself Silas had approached Peter with a new product sample, and his brother had raved about how it was going to make them rich, Conrad had seen only the dollar signs.
[SPEAKER_00]: The name Mahhoyt had meant little to him.
[SPEAKER_00]: Of course he'd heard stories.
[SPEAKER_00]: Anyone who stayed in the area long enough was bound to pick them up, but why would he ever put stock in kids' tales?
[SPEAKER_00]: Mostly he suspected that the whole thing was a purposely cultivated rumor, a smoke screen to allow the resident of this property a degree of privacy.
[SPEAKER_00]: He still clung to that idea.
[SPEAKER_00]: After all, whoever lived here was growing that freaky fungi and evidently looking to start selling, and with the way Wes and others treated the place, it seemed like you couldn't get a better means of keeping locals out of your way.
[SPEAKER_00]: But ever since dealing with that freak at the gate, he'd found himself trying to remember just what exactly the story said about this place, and it's inhabitant.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not that he was putting stock in those now, not at all.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was just that he kept thinking of that guy at the gate.
[SPEAKER_00]: That dude.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, something had been up with that dude.
[SPEAKER_00]: Probably stoned out of his mind.
[SPEAKER_00]: Seems sloppy to have a guard with his head up in the clouds while on duty, but that had to be it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Conrad didn't know what the guy might have been on, but whatever it was, it had him out there like a zombie.
[SPEAKER_00]: Finally, he stepped from the truck, but as if called by his nervous thoughts, shadows shampled
[SPEAKER_00]: He'd give these folks this much, they really committed to the whole eerie bit.
[SPEAKER_00]: He took Morgan by the arm and pulled her along behind him.
[SPEAKER_00]: Come on, he said to Wes, skitt this over with.
[SPEAKER_00]: For a moment, it seemed the big man might protest again.
[SPEAKER_00]: God damn it, he was acting like a child, but he too exited the vehicle.
[SPEAKER_00]: They stood like that for a moment, all three within the moonlight before the house.
[SPEAKER_00]: Conrad tightened his grip on Morgan's arm.
[SPEAKER_00]: OK, now I need you to be cool, which is going in for a little chat to straighten things out.
[SPEAKER_00]: Who knows?
[SPEAKER_00]: Morgan's arm buzzed with a deepening numbness as Conrad kept it in a vise grip, but this was a distant sensation.
[SPEAKER_00]: He said something to her, but she barely heard him.
[SPEAKER_00]: All she could do was stare at the strange house.
[SPEAKER_00]: Whoever had built the thing must have had a twisted sense of whimsy.
[SPEAKER_00]: For as looming and monstrous as it had seemed on the drive up, she now felt the flickering orange glow in the windows gave it the appearance of a giant Halloween decoration.
[SPEAKER_00]: It seemed that whatever crew used this place had a matching sensibility too.
[SPEAKER_00]: After all, the lurking shadows on the porch might have caught her eye, but so did a small jackalenter and staring back at her from the steps, and what might have been a black cat racing from view.
[SPEAKER_00]: If it weren't for the gun to her back, she might have felt the perfect image of trick or treat her gaping up at the neighborhood spookhouse.
[SPEAKER_00]: What now?"
[SPEAKER_00]: asked Wes.
[SPEAKER_00]: She felt Conrad's shift as he scanned around.
[SPEAKER_00]: The silent forms on the porch had made no moves since they had exited the truck.
[SPEAKER_00]: She could feel their eyes watching from just beyond the shafts of moon glow, and since even Conrad's hesitance to proceed.
[SPEAKER_00]: But before he could muster a response, the front door opened.
[SPEAKER_00]: an orange glow streamed from the door, and traced the shape of a silhouette, which emerged and descended to meet them.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, now, speak of the devil.
[SPEAKER_00]: I said it was about time you'd show up, and here you are.
[SPEAKER_00]: The speaker stopped before them, a slight man whose thoroughly shaved head gleamed in the moonlight.
[SPEAKER_00]: He gave a smile that might have been pleasant, where it not stretched as it was over the man's hollow face.
[SPEAKER_00]: Silas?
[SPEAKER_00]: Conrad said with a nod.
[SPEAKER_00]: Look, I was actually hoping to talk to you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Silas stopped him with a raised hand.
[SPEAKER_00]: No need to rush, friend.
[SPEAKER_00]: Come inside first.
[SPEAKER_00]: The mistress will have my head for making you wait out of doors any longer.
[SPEAKER_00]: After all, that is who you are here to see.
[SPEAKER_00]: Save the business talk for her.
[SPEAKER_00]: the man turned back toward the step, and Morgan was surprised to feel the pressure on her arm release as Conrad pushed her toward Wes and made a quick step after Silas.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hang on a second, he said, and put a hand out to stop the man's retreat.
[SPEAKER_00]: If he had intended on saying more, he never got the chance.
[SPEAKER_00]: Silas froze at the light touch, looking at the hand on his shoulder as if it were a load
[SPEAKER_00]: At the same time, a hush fell over the tabloat, the shifting figures on the porch seem to wait upon the moment with baited breath.
[SPEAKER_00]: Kindly unhand me, friend.
[SPEAKER_00]: Silas said, he no longer smiled.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now I try to impress upon both you and that brother of yours that we operate according to certain standards that certain etiquettes are to be observed, did I not?
[SPEAKER_00]: The mistress is, particular, you will come along and await her within.
[SPEAKER_00]: You will wait to discuss the night's business with her at the appointed time.
[SPEAKER_00]: Morgan watched Conrad, watched the garish gun he had neglected to return to its holster before approaching the strange man.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was being sloppy, and if it was first impressions he was worried about, his behavior did him no favors.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not that Conrad had ever proven to be master of tact or eloquence, but tonight he seemed cagey and unpredictable.
[SPEAKER_00]: He'd threatened
[SPEAKER_00]: He could act as macho as he wanted, but she knew he must be unnerved by the strangeness of this place and its people.
[SPEAKER_00]: In the end, Conrad backed off, hands up in a pacifying gesture as he put his gun into its holster.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sorry, didn't mean anything by it.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's cool, everything's cool.
[SPEAKER_00]: He turned back to Wes.
[SPEAKER_00]: Everything's cool, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Sherman," said Wes, but the words came as an afterthought, his eyes never leaving the figures on the porch.
[SPEAKER_00]: The goolish smile returned to Silas' face.
[SPEAKER_00]: Splendid!
[SPEAKER_00]: Come along!
[SPEAKER_00]: As Conrad started after the man, West pushed her along before him toward the porch steps.
[SPEAKER_00]: You don't have to do this, you know?
[SPEAKER_00]: She muttered.
[SPEAKER_00]: I know you don't want to be here either.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is Conrad's mess.
[SPEAKER_00]: You, me, a quick hop in the truck and we can blow out through that gate?
[SPEAKER_00]: Shut up and keep walking.
[SPEAKER_00]: Came this diff reply.
[SPEAKER_00]: Speaking of that brother yours, where is he?
[SPEAKER_00]: You, I know, and I recognize the big one, but the morsel you've brought is new.
[SPEAKER_00]: I would have thought Peter would want to be here to seal the deal as it were.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's not feeling good lately, otherwise he would have been here.
[SPEAKER_00]: By now they had reached the porch, and its roof cut off the last vestiges of moonlight.
[SPEAKER_00]: In the darkness, she could see the watchers.
[SPEAKER_00]: They stood off to the left and right of the door, groups of six each.
[SPEAKER_00]: They were men, all clad and dark clothes, most with hoods pulled over their heads, like the one at the gate.
[SPEAKER_00]: Morgan wondered if they might share his strange look as well, but their hoods shielded their eyes.
[SPEAKER_00]: Still, their heads turned to mark their passage, and the simultaneous motion made her quick in her step toward the door.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then she jerked to a stop.
[SPEAKER_00]: West had grown still as a statue, his hand suddenly gripping her shoulder, a hand that began
[SPEAKER_00]: Looking back, she saw him staring at the hooded group on the right side of the porch.
[SPEAKER_00]: The color drained from him and his mouth worked silently over unformed words.
[SPEAKER_00]: One of the figures lurched forward, arms outstretched, fingers grasping.
[SPEAKER_00]: The sudden motion brought a scream to her throat, but before she could set it loose, a bulky shadow interposed itself between them, a thump of fist on flesh resounded.
[SPEAKER_00]: What is the meaning of this?
[SPEAKER_00]: Silas reemerged from the open door to glauer over the scene.
[SPEAKER_00]: One of the hooded men now coward on the ground before a hulking man.
[SPEAKER_00]: His monstrous shoulders heave to see rung out his massive right hand, no doubt shaking off the knuckle ache of what must have been a devastating blow.
[SPEAKER_00]: He wore a jacket, patterned with hunters' cam of lodge, and when he turned in her direction, Morgan saw his face was obscured with a loose fitting mask of red cloth.
[SPEAKER_00]: The goliath of a man grunted something at Silas, if they were words, Morgan couldn't catch them.
[SPEAKER_00]: Nevertheless, Silas raised an eyebrow.
[SPEAKER_00]: Recursive, you say.
[SPEAKER_00]: Take him aside.
[SPEAKER_00]: I shall have a look later.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, wait a second.
[SPEAKER_00]: West stepped forward, but the large man turned toward him.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just a fucking second man, what just happened?
[SPEAKER_00]: Him, back there.
[SPEAKER_00]: How did I apologize, profusely, sir?
[SPEAKER_00]: Silence, cutting.
[SPEAKER_00]: Our men are well healed.
[SPEAKER_00]: I do not know West tried to push forward.
[SPEAKER_00]: No, wait, I need to talk to him.
[SPEAKER_00]: but the large man held his ground, and the hooded man's compatriots soon retreated inside with him in tow.
[SPEAKER_00]: "'Please, calm yourself, sir,' said Silas.
[SPEAKER_00]: I apologize if he disturbed you.
[SPEAKER_00]: I assure you the situation will be dealt with.
[SPEAKER_00]: You good?
[SPEAKER_00]: Asked Conrad as he stepped outside.
[SPEAKER_00]: West stood for a moment saying nothing.
[SPEAKER_00]: Conrad came close and spoke low.
[SPEAKER_00]: What was that?
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't fucking know, man.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thought I saw something.
[SPEAKER_00]: Never mind, this place is off.
[SPEAKER_00]: Making me jumpy, maybe.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just keep it together.
[SPEAKER_00]: While the two discussed Morgan glanced toward the open door to the walker house, and then back to the porch steps.
[SPEAKER_00]: If she were quick, maybe she could make it down them without rolling an ankle and vanish into the woods.
[SPEAKER_00]: But she felt eyes on her, and found the large man's head turned her direction.
[SPEAKER_00]: Though the cloth covering his face hid in the expression, still she sensed a grin aimed at her.
[SPEAKER_00]: A grin which said, I see you.
[SPEAKER_00]: A grin which begged her to try something.
[SPEAKER_00]: Please, said Silas, motioning toward the soft glow of the open door.
[SPEAKER_00]: Step right this way.
[SPEAKER_00]: a fire crackled away and sent both warm and flickering light about the room.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was one of many throughout the monstrous old house, and though the building had been equipped with electric lighting, their hosts seemed content to let the minifires serve as the primary light source.
[SPEAKER_00]: The effect was a cozy warmth,
[SPEAKER_00]: nearly homie.
[SPEAKER_00]: Furthermore, a black cat had emerged from beneath the leather sofa upon which she sat and made itself a ball in her lap.
[SPEAKER_00]: Between the fire's warmth and the cat's soft purring, she could almost forget her circumstances.
[SPEAKER_00]: But then the fire flicker would reveal the hooded min and the giant lurking in the adjoining room, and her heart would pick up its pace.
[SPEAKER_00]: The whole situation continued to devolve into strangeness.
[SPEAKER_00]: Besides the silent guards and the masked enforcer who watched them, the house itself gave her a sense of unease, which the inviting atmosphere just managed to keep suppressed.
[SPEAKER_00]: She thought she heard sounds as if things moving within the walls.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe the place was infested with rats.
[SPEAKER_00]: The house's corridors also seemed to stretch on and on in a way that didn't feel possible.
[SPEAKER_00]: Even though the place was large, it seemed there was no way it had the square footage to encompass the winding route traveled to reach this room.
[SPEAKER_00]: Even if she'd been given the opportunity to run, Morgan didn't think she could navigate the way out.
[SPEAKER_00]: Without any prospects, she sat listening to the creeks of the house and the subdued discussion of Conrad and Wes from across the room.
[SPEAKER_00]: For despite silences insistence on getting them inside, he had led them through the
[SPEAKER_00]: The mistress, he'd said, is finishing up with an unexpected visitor, but will be along shortly.
[SPEAKER_00]: The mistress, the title kept circulating in her mind.
[SPEAKER_00]: What sort of person would live in such a place and run?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, whatever kind of operation this was, it seemed the answer would arrive soon.
[SPEAKER_00]: As she sat contemplating her fate, Morgan caught fragments of conversation through the oak doors near the couch upon which she sat.
[SPEAKER_00]: presently, the muffled voices within grew more distinct as if the speakers drew nearer to the door.
[SPEAKER_00]: First, a female voice, husky and low.
[SPEAKER_00]: At mid I was shocked to hear about Joseph, especially after everything else.
[SPEAKER_00]: One of our own fell this summer if you could believe it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Though in the case of your master, I'm not surprised to find the news was less than
[SPEAKER_00]: He gives his words that such a disruption won't happen again.
[SPEAKER_00]: The young one will be brought to heal.
[SPEAKER_00]: He intends to continue relations as before.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, maybe next time he can come himself instead of this.
[SPEAKER_00]: He is with me always.
[SPEAKER_00]: My words are his.
[SPEAKER_00]: But of course.
[SPEAKER_00]: The oak doors swung open and a stern faced man emerged.
[SPEAKER_00]: The cat startled from Morgan's lap as he gave her a glance and exited the room.
[SPEAKER_00]: Silas came the female voice from within.
[SPEAKER_00]: Escort Mr. Tate back to his vehicle.
[SPEAKER_00]: Rusty, all come on in.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let me have a look at you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Wes and Conrad turned toward her, but Morgan walked ahead of them of her own volition.
[SPEAKER_00]: If there was no running, she'd at least keep her dignity.
[SPEAKER_00]: Besides, she was damned curious to see the speaker.
[SPEAKER_00]: As with the room prior, the adjoining space gleamed with the soft glow of flames.
[SPEAKER_00]: In addition to another small fireplace, fat candles dripped with wax upon the
[SPEAKER_00]: and amid the dancing light, Morgan finally laid eyes upon the mistress of the strange house.
[SPEAKER_00]: What she had expected was not entirely clear, but the talk from Wes and the house's atmosphere had inadvertently put the image into her mind of some old, wart-covered hag that would be right at home with the Halloween decorations in the town below.
[SPEAKER_00]: Instead, Morgan was greeted by a red-haired woman who leaned against a large wooden desk at the end of the room.
[SPEAKER_00]: Far from the mental image she conjured, the woman had smooth, creamy skin, and looked far younger than Morgan would have ever imagined.
[SPEAKER_00]: About her shoulders, she wore some kind of furs over a silken black dress that dipped suggestively in the front.
[SPEAKER_00]: And as Morgan came on, the woman too came forward.
[SPEAKER_00]: Her step smoothed with a liveliness nearly feline in nature.
[SPEAKER_00]: What's more, the woman being data, as if greeting a seldom scene but much loved friend.
[SPEAKER_00]: welcome to my home.
[SPEAKER_00]: Her voice was low and sweet, tinged with a southern drawle.
[SPEAKER_00]: Everyone calls me mahoit.
[SPEAKER_00]: You can call me ma.
[SPEAKER_00]: Morgan began to reply, but Conrad stepped forward.
[SPEAKER_00]: Pleasure to meet you.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm Conrad, and this is my man, Wes.
[SPEAKER_00]: Ignoring Conrad entirely, Moss stepped around them both to advance on Wes.
[SPEAKER_00]: Morgan had seen the big man brawl with multiple men at once, but he seemed to fight an urge to shrink before the small woman.
[SPEAKER_00]: Ah, well, looky there.
[SPEAKER_00]: She said, putting a hand lightly on his cheek.
[SPEAKER_00]: You remind me of someone.
[SPEAKER_00]: Local boy, are you?
[SPEAKER_00]: West remained still as a statue, his only reply a strained exhalation of breath.
[SPEAKER_00]: You'll have to forgive him," said Conrad, with a pointed look at West.
[SPEAKER_00]: He don't talk much.
[SPEAKER_00]: Mahoite kept her eyes on West.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe Lil T would loosen that tongue on this chilly Halloween night.
[SPEAKER_00]: Silas, the tea, please?
[SPEAKER_00]: There's no need for all that, said Conrad.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sure your time is valuable, so we don't mind getting straight to business.
[SPEAKER_00]: Finally, the woman turned to acknowledge his presence.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'd take it, you must be the leader of this operation.
[SPEAKER_00]: Could say that, me and my brother.
[SPEAKER_00]: Silas mentioned something about a brother.
[SPEAKER_00]: I understand he was the one with whom Silas first made content.
[SPEAKER_00]: He couldn't make it?
[SPEAKER_00]: Under the weather.
[SPEAKER_00]: Indeed.
[SPEAKER_00]: Mahoy distrolled back to the desk and planted herself in the high back chair.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, since you are so eager to discuss our dealings, let's have at it.
[SPEAKER_00]: If I recall, Silas delivered a small batch of my product, free of charge, for a test run.
[SPEAKER_00]: Show a good will with the intention you'd be back to buy a heap of it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I do hope you have some money in those little pockets for the next batch.
[SPEAKER_00]: After all, some say it's unwise to come to a hill which, empty handbed.
[SPEAKER_00]: go on.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, the product didn't make it to the street.
[SPEAKER_00]: Mahoyte offered no response except the raising of her eyebrows.
[SPEAKER_00]: Normally, at this point in a deal going south, Morgan expected Conrad to become defensive, maybe even belligerent.
[SPEAKER_00]: He'd go on about some excuse or another, and she knew he was a firm believer that what problems couldn't be talked out of could be fought out of.
[SPEAKER_00]: But now, he could hardly get a word out.
[SPEAKER_00]: He stood there for an interminable moment, waiting.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe almost hoping for some response, but still, Mahhoi'd merely sat and stared.
[SPEAKER_00]: We can fix it.
[SPEAKER_00]: He said it last.
[SPEAKER_00]: I should hope so.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you paid double this time to make things whole.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'd love to.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I will.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't have the cash for it.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I can get it soon.
[SPEAKER_00]: Soon isn't now, though.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like I said, it doesn't pay to show you face here empty handed.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not empty handed.
[SPEAKER_00]: Finally, Conrad seemed to master himself, stand a little taller.
[SPEAKER_00]: He pointed a finger in Morgan's direction.
[SPEAKER_00]: I brought her, she's the one who's been stealing the product, had some in a little handbag.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now she's one of my best girls, but she's yours.
[SPEAKER_00]: You do with her, whatever you want, and I'll get you your money.
[SPEAKER_00]: You are a thief, then child?
[SPEAKER_00]: Asked Mahoyte.
[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't do nothing, Morgan replied automatically.
[SPEAKER_00]: I got set up.
[SPEAKER_00]: Don't you go trying to warm out of this one?"
[SPEAKER_00]: said Conrad.
[SPEAKER_00]: I found it on her myself.
[SPEAKER_00]: Morgan, world on him.
[SPEAKER_00]: If this was the end of the line, might as well speak her mind.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't care what you found.
[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't put it there.
[SPEAKER_00]: Didn't even know you were trying to sell any new shit until tonight.
[SPEAKER_00]: But we all know who else was in on this deal.
[SPEAKER_00]: Conrad's jaw worked.
[SPEAKER_00]: She watched his fist clinch and waited for him to come at her.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, now, said Mahoyt.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think we all need to take a breath.
[SPEAKER_00]: Have some tea.
[SPEAKER_00]: Silas appeared at Morgan's side, a tray of steaming mugs in his hands.
[SPEAKER_00]: She hadn't heard him enter much less approach.
[SPEAKER_00]: hesitantly, she took a mug as did both Wes and Conrad.
[SPEAKER_00]: All three stared into the dark liquid within.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is in poison if that's what you think, and said Marhoit with a chuckle.
[SPEAKER_00]: She leaned back and sit from a mug of her own, while Silas took a new post to her left.
[SPEAKER_00]: Go on now, have some.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's good for the soul.
[SPEAKER_00]: Besides, the boys and I will be minded this please if you refuse our hospitality.
[SPEAKER_00]: Morgan spared a glance to both Wes and Conrad.
[SPEAKER_00]: She knew they had to be thinking the same thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: No way were they going to drink this stuff.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not in a place like this, but Ma'll wait to kept her eyes fixed on the group all the while sipping from a mug of her own.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then the floor creaked and Morgan felt the gliath of a man lurking in the doorway behind them.
[SPEAKER_00]: bottoms up then.
[SPEAKER_00]: The tea was the perfect temperature and laced with a sweetness.
[SPEAKER_00]: With its warmth running through her, she found she felt a little calmer.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's better, said Mahoyt.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, let's talk this out.
[SPEAKER_00]: What's there to talk out?
[SPEAKER_00]: Conrad said, how many times do I have to say that she had to stuff on her?
[SPEAKER_00]: And yet, she says she didn't put it there.
[SPEAKER_00]: See, I simply cannot abide, liars, especially when it comes to potential business prospects.
[SPEAKER_00]: Morgan could practically hear Conrad grinding his teeth.
[SPEAKER_00]: What's gonna make you see the truths of things then?
[SPEAKER_00]: Mahoite smiled.
[SPEAKER_00]: What do you know about this old house and the man who built it?
[SPEAKER_00]: Just a story's people tell, though they mainly tell about you, shame that, see, this is a unique house built by a unique mind.
[SPEAKER_00]: Robert Walker might've had his particular interests, but in the end, he was a lover of play, games, chance, fate even, and on a night like tonight, maybe tricks, treats.
[SPEAKER_00]: You ever heard of a trial by ordeal child?
[SPEAKER_00]: You want to have a trial?
[SPEAKER_00]: The woman laughed.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not like your thinking.
[SPEAKER_00]: See, way back when folk would be accused of something.
[SPEAKER_00]: Which craft say, and they might have to do a little test?
[SPEAKER_00]: idea was that if you came through unscathed, you were innocent.
[SPEAKER_00]: Otherwise, well, let's say it never ended pretty.
[SPEAKER_00]: Morgan felt a flutter of fear, tried to well up in her gut, but it was off-kilter, smothered by something.
[SPEAKER_00]: A strange numbness had said into her lips, attingling flitted at her fingers, and her eyes dropped to the steaming mug in her hand, as Mahhoi'd rose and began to walk around her desk.
[SPEAKER_00]: I say, we honor the memory of old Mr. Walker,
[SPEAKER_00]: By having us a little trial game of our own, this Halloween.
[SPEAKER_00]: Morgan's momentary calm began to slip, something was wrong with her.
[SPEAKER_00]: She went to match the strange woman's advance with retreat, but her feet stayed still.
[SPEAKER_00]: She tried to look to west and conrad, had they drank the tea as well, but she found
[SPEAKER_00]: What are you gonna do to me?
[SPEAKER_00]: She whispered.
[SPEAKER_00]: The woman came on, crossing the space between them.
[SPEAKER_00]: Nothing, child.
[SPEAKER_00]: It ain't up to me.
[SPEAKER_00]: You are the accused.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's up to you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Gently, Mahui took the mug and said it aside.
[SPEAKER_00]: She clasped Morgan's hand in her own.
[SPEAKER_00]: The touch allowing her just a moment to glance down.
[SPEAKER_00]: For the first time, she saw a tattoo on the woman's hand.
[SPEAKER_00]: A series of interlocking circles, and something like a serpent's head, it seemed to ride on her skin.
[SPEAKER_00]: May the mother be with you, child.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you are blameless, let her guide your way.
[SPEAKER_00]: Wait a second, please!
[SPEAKER_00]: Ma-hoit stepped away, leaving her in the center of the room.
[SPEAKER_00]: Silas?
[SPEAKER_00]: Morgan had a moment to register the man reaching just beneath the desk, before the world dropped away to darkness.
[SPEAKER_00]: Down, down she goes!
[SPEAKER_00]: What awaits in the pit?
[SPEAKER_00]: Nobody knows.
[SPEAKER_00]: It looks like all of our dominoes are set up, and the first ones are beginning to fall.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just what sort of fungus do you think Ma-hoi is peddling?
[SPEAKER_00]: And who was it on the porch that startled Wes so?
[SPEAKER_00]: I suspect I know, but no, couldn't be.
[SPEAKER_00]: And wasn't Ma-hoi talking to a Mr. Tate?
[SPEAKER_00]: I could swear that name is familiar.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're enjoying this story, please make sure to tune in next week to hear our shocking conclusion.
[SPEAKER_00]: Please also leave a like on this video, and subscribe to our podcast and YouTube channel, so you can hear more stories like this one.
[SPEAKER_00]: Whatever you do, give a bit of cringe to children's stories about the old spook house, and don't fall asleep.